Docments recently released to the British National Archives reveal that the U.K. had been developing a different kind of airborne weapon - suicide pigeons.

the War Office intelligence section, MI14, warned: "Pigeon research will not stand still; if we do not experiment, other powers will." [now there's a catchy slogan - Ed.] Among MI14's proposals was the training of pigeons carrying explosives to fly into enemy searchlights.

Meanwhile, pigeon enthusiast Wing Commander WDL Rayner suggested a "bacteriological warfare agent" could be combined with the explosive. "A thousand pigeons each with a two ounce explosive capsule, landed at intervals on a specific target, might be a seriously inconvenient surprise..."

I think I should have named my blog "A Seriously Inconvenient Surprise." But I didn't, so the name's up for grabs. Did I mention that a gang of pigeons has taken up residence on my apartment's rear 3rd floor porch? Now, you can't go out the back door for fear of being divebombed with birdshite, and there is a growing guano pile on the concrete where icicles normally grow - only birdshite doesn't melt...